Bill Traylor, Blue Cat, 1939-1942. In only three years, between 1939 and 1942, Bill Traylor—former slave, factory worker, and homeless welfare recipient, who slept on a wooden pallet inside the [Ross-Clayton Funeral Parlor in Montgomery, Alabama]—created his own extraordinary history of drawing in 1,800 images. Most were preserved by his friend and fellow artist, Charles Shannon.